(Editor’s note. The planning application for the mountain coaster (see here) , misdescribed by Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd as a toboggan run, is due to be considered by the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA), this Friday. It has taken CNPA planning officers six months to get the planning application to a state where they can…
Tag: planning
Following David Jarman’s highly informative 2024 powerpoint comparing the impacts of the various pumped storage hydro (PSH) schemes being proposed for Scotland (see here), I have been to look at Coire Glas, the site of SSE’s proposed scheme above Loch Lochy, twice in the last eighteen months. The first time was on a walk up…
What has been the impact of the firebreaks in Glen More on the Caledonian pinewood? By 30th July, Forest and Land Scotland (FLS) had created 6km of firebreaks in Glenmore (see here) as part of their efforts to contain and extinguish the Glenmore wildfire. As they put it: “Immediate action was required and it was…
After the retrospective planning application for the unlawful new access track to Honeypot Farm had been withdrawn and the planning documents had disappeared from the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) ‘s planning portal (see here) I submitted a Freedom of Information request to them on 7th October. Two weeks later, at the…
The retrospective planning application for the unlawful new road to Honeypot Farm (see here), submitted in March, has been withdrawn by Michael Hyde Planning Associates, the agents on behalf of the owner of the farm, Sam Newall. Without a retrospective planning application there is no longer any justification for allow the new road to remain…
The Duncan Mills slipway at Balloch, operated by the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA), is the last remaining public boat launching facility on Loch Lomond. This follows the decision by staff to close Milarrochy Bay in 2017 (see here). The LLTNPA’s website provides some limited information about the operation of the slipway…
Driving up the A82 in mid-July, before going to the Alps, I was surprised to see that the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA)’s works to ‘upgrade’ the Falls of Falloch car park, announced earlier this year and which I had blogged about in April (see here), were complete. Very few of the…
“This region represents every wild aspect of the Central Highland scene – wooded lochs, strong rivers, high flat-topped mountains with rock corries deeply inset, wide sweeps of grass rather than the heather of the Cairngorms, peat-hag and bog, broad bealachs and sharp ravines, and good tracks.” So wrote Bill Murray, in his 1962 Highland Landscape,…
Following my post on the Loch Lomond South Community Development Trust (LLSCDT)’s registration of interest in Scottish Enterprise’s land at Balloch (see here), their accounts were published on 6th July by Companies House (see here). This was the day before the deadline and these were first accounts to appear since the company was incorporated on…
Just before she resigned as First Minister in March 2023 Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish Government pushed through the Scottish Parliament what were described as “radical” changes in planning policy. This included giving the green light to any renewable developments, of whatever scale, that would help to meet UK renewable energy targets, emphasising that Scotland’s 42 Wild…
After the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) had effectively excluded the local community from the planning process which led to Flamingo Land (see here and here), a Community Development Trust (CDT) provided an alternative means for people in Balloch to have a say over the future of the land in the village. By setting up…
A couple of weeks ago Dave Morris and myself met with Mike Gifford, the Chief Executive, and two of the new directors of Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL) at their invitation. Among the subjects we discussed were the proposed mountain coaster, which CMSL has called a toboggan run, but in fact has nothing to do…
Following my post on the proposed mountain coaster/toboggan run at Cairn Gorm (see here), I have been invited to meet Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL) along with Gordon Bulloch and Dave Morris who gave evidence to the Public Audit Committee with me about the funicular in January (see here). I have taken the opportunity to…
Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE)’s plans to build a mountain coaster, first proposed in 2018 and now described as a toboggan run, are now in the news (see here for example). A planning application was submitted to Highland Council on 2nd April and called-in by the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) on 27th April (see…
Kirsty Young, the broadcaster, and her husband Nick Jones have put Inchconnachan back on the market through Sotheby’s, with two options for purchase: Mr and Mrs Young bought the island, famed for its Wallabies, four years ago for just £1,550,000 (see here). The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) then allowed them to use…
At the start of this year I was alerted to the construction of the new access road to what was until recently called Conachra farm. The new road, which is west of Croftamie, lies within the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park and is their responsibility for planning purposes. The farm itself lies within the…
On 1st April the BBC reported (see here) that Flamingo Land had decided to appeal Scottish Government’s Ministers decision to turn down their proposed Lomond Banks development in Balloch. They are in fact seeking a judicial review. The difference is important because, as I explained after Scottish Ministers made their announcement (see here), a judicial…
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) Board meeting on Monday (9th March) considered a paper on the Standards Commission for Scotland (SCS) decision to suspend Sid Perrie, the locally elected member of Balloch, for six months for sending six emails (see here). Public bodies which come under the aegis of the…
I had set aside last Wednesday morning to attend the Standards Commission for Scotland (SCS) hearing into Councillor Fiona Higgins, who like Sid Perrie (see here) the local elected National Park board member for Balloch, has been investigated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner for trying to raise concerns about officials. I was tipped off on…
I was taken by surprise by the Scottish Government’s announcement on Tuesday that it had decided to reject Flamingo Land’s current planning application to build a holiday resort at Balloch five months after the Reporter, Mr Buylla, had submitted his second report on the proposed development (see here). I had thought the Scottish Government had…
Last Wednesday, 18th February, the Standards Commission published (see here) their decision to suspend Sid Perrie from the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) Board for six months for sending six emails questioning the Flamingo Land Planning process. The decision document is almost 24 pages long and, from my memory, appears to be…
Last weekend the Sunday Mail ran an article (see here) on the Standards Commission Hearing (see here) which declared Sid Perrie, the locally elected member for Balloch, guilty of bullying for sending six emails raising concerns about conflicts of interest in the handling of the Flamingo Land Planning application. As a consequence the Standards Commission…
Yesterday I went to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) headquarters to hear the Standards Commission judge Sid Perrie while he is off sick with stress as a result of how he has been treated. Sid is the locally elected member for Balloch and had sent six emails trying to challenge the…
This post explains how the Code of Conduct for public life in Scotland, as applied to local authorities and quangos, has developed in the last 20 years and is now being used to do the opposite of what the Nolan ethical principles intended. The Nolan Principles and the Codes of Conduct in Scotland As a…
The CairnGorm Mountain [Scotland] Ltd [CMSL] accounts for the year ending 31 March 2025 were published in November 2025 (see here). They showed that the business recorded an operating loss of £2,833,280 for that financial year. That’s the day-to-day operating loss and nothing to do with the Capital Expenditures associated with the Funicular Repairs or…